Messing With Texas

So, we did it. We really did it. We drove to Austin, TX for SXSW! I still can't believe it happened. It feels too surreal to be true. Thursday night, the boyfriend, myself, and our French-Canadian friend set out towards Texas. It was a last minute decision. I think we'd built it up so much, we just had to do it. The three of us took turns driving through the night and listening to our iPods. 1,200 miles and 18 hours seemed like a daunting task, but somehow we got through it. We drove through Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, then right into Texas. I was disappointed we didn't get to see Memphis. I was surprised how pretty Arkansas was. I imagined it'd be a shithole. We even drove through the city of Texarkana, which is a famous R.E.M. song. About 300 miles into the trip, we got pulled over. Our friend wasn't going too fast, and luckily got off with a warning. It probably helped that he had a Canadian license. Everything in the South was so green. Spring had sprung whereas here in Chicago, it's still freezing and bleak outside. Texas is a huge state. There is an unbelievable amount of land.When we crossed the border, all I could think about was this. We knew we were in Texas when we started to see gun shops and ads for Bar-B-Q joints. It took a while to get to Austin. We drove through Waco, which made me nervous. Didn't something bad happen there? Just kidding. I knew Waco was bad news because of Bush's Chicken. Let me explain. We were hungry. We'd been driving all night, so we stopped at a fast food joint called Bush's. It was probably one of the worst meals we'd ever had. The portions were huge but the food was sickeningly bland. We realized at this point, it could only get better. Eating at Bush's would become a hilarious and reoccurring joke amongst us.

Once we were about 2 hours from Austin, we hit some major traffic. We arrived at our destination around 3pm. The person we were staying with was out of town, so we had the place to ourselves for the night. The guy owns two cats and doesn't take care of the house. There was cat hair everywhere. The boyfriend is severely allergic and I'm a little allergic, too. I loved his cats, though. One was a tubby kitty, and the other a beautiful yet dumb Siamese.

We took a bus downtown to where all the action was. We hit Red River near 6th Street. Since we had decided to come at the last minute, we didn't have any set plans. We stumbled upon a music venue that turned out to be one of the places we'd wanted to see. The weather was impeccable--80s, breezy, sunny. Because it's always warm in Austin, most of the music venues have elaborate outdoor patios fit for live music. We'd only been at the place for less than ten minutes when he heard our first band play live. I noticed the band the Hold Steady was simultaneously playing live next door. We soon left the venue and as we were walking down the street, I heard Echo and the Bunnymen playing. I was seriously blown away. It was very surreal and exciting. We walked all the way to the east side to check out the Myopenbar party, one of the reasons we decided to come to the fest. My bosses were running a huge lot filled with bands and a roller skating rink. The best part was all the free beer. I hung out with my bosses a little, but they were pretty busy running around. We stopped at a bbq place and had a real meal. We were pretty tired but decided to keep going. We checked out a band called Health playing at a small outdoor venue that resembled a shack. An ice cream man was there giving away free ice cream bars. I had two of them. At this point, we were exhausted and went home and went to bed. I knew between now and the time I'd get back to Chicago, there'd be no restful sleep for me. I only slept maybe an hour in the car, and it wasn't good sleep.

We woke up the next afternoon and set out again. We stopped at a park to see a bunch of bands. Someone told us there would be free booze and food there, but it was a lie. I really like Austin but it's not very veggie friendly. At the park, the only food they had were burgers and hot dogs. So, I just got a bun with veggies on it. Seeing the bands in the park made me think of Pitchfork fest and Lolla. I can see bands in parks anytime. So, we decided to walk around a little. It really felt like summertime there. Summertime in March! We went back to the Mohawk and checked out one of my fave bands, Camera Obscura. So far all of the shows had been free to the public and hadn't require a badge. We walked down Red River/6th St. and stumbled into a couple of more venues. We walked through the chaos of 6th St on our way to yet another park to check out yet another band. I was surprised how many Chicagoans I didn't run into at the fest. I did see Sun-Times critic Jim Derogatis walk across the street. We arrived at a park on the riverfront to see a free Explosions in the Sky show. We had to wait in line for a while, but got in. The caliber of the venue reminded me of Lolla. The whole point of the fest is to experience lesser known bands in smaller settings.I think that's what I loved the most about the fest that any place you walked into, there was live music. Well, almost. Most music fests take place in a big field for three days, not actually in bars and clubs in the city. After the show, the city gave us a spectacular fireworks show. There were a lot of bands we wanted to see, but we needed a badge to get into see them. This is when everything became frustrating. There were either cover charges or badge requirements and long lines. We decided to just walk down 6th street and wander into some establishments. We went to a bar called The Library that advertised, "No live music here!" Like live music is a bad thing. They did have pretty cheap drinks, though. At this point, I was exhausted. We must've walked a few miles. We tried a couple of more bars then decided to see Marcy's Playground. For those of you who don't know them, they had a major hit in the '90s then faded away. But, it was our last hope to see live music before the fest ended. Before the show started, we wandered into an Irish bar and discovered a U2 cover band playing in the back. Never in a million years did I think I'd see a U2 cover band at SXSW. And the ironic part is they had nothing to do with the fest. Finally Marcy's Playground went on and they sucked. They played their one hit and it was over. We stopped off at 6th Street to get some street food. By this point, the street was swarmed with drunkards who could barely walk on their own. I wondered how many of these people were here for the fest and how many were just out on a typical weekend night. We took a cab back to where we were staying to find out the boyfriend's friend had come back into town. The boyfriend thought he wasn't due back till Sunday, not Saturday. This screwed up our sleeping arrangements. There was only one bed and one couch. The previous night, the boyfriend and I had slept in the bed. The boyfriend proceeded to get drunk with his friend. The friend was really loud and kept us all up till 5am. I just wanted to go to sleep! The friend was being difficult about the sleeping arrangements, so eventually he slept on the couch and the boyfriend, our friend, and I slept restlessly in the bed.

We woke up Sunday afternoon and prepared for our long journey back home. We ate at a great brunch place that had $5 carafes of mimosas. You can't get such cheap shit in Chicago! They served family style brunch which entailed a cake-sized cinnamon role and a tray filled with eggs Benedict, potatoes, scrambled eggs, and French toast. For some reason, it took us four hours to only go 100 miles. Traffic getting out of Texas was a total nightmare. Once we got out, traffic was a breeze. We took turns driving through the night and blasting our iPods. We finally made it back to Chicago at 10:30am Monday morning. Of course when we got to Chicago, it was rainy and almost 30 degrees out. How come whenever I come back from somewhere warm Chicago is freezing?

Overall, we had a great time. It was seriously worth the trip. I can now say I've taken a crazy and lengthy road trip...that I've seen Arkansas and Dallas, etc. I wish we would've planned a little better. If I go next year, I want a press pass, I want to get a plane ticket in advance, and I want to see more of everything. SXSW is insane. About 1,900 bands play within a five day period. It's impossible to see everything. I'd like to go at the beginning of the fest and try to get through all of it instead of just staying for a weekend. We missed out on a lot of day parties because we got there late and because we didn't RSVP for certain things. I think everything we saw was just a skeleton of the fest. It went by so damn fast. Now I can scratch this off my bucket list.

This was only my second trip to Austin, but I really like the city. The problem is, I hate Texas. It's hot. They are too gun friendly and not veggie friendly. If I lived in TX, I would probably have to start eating meat again, and that's just not going to happen. I love how there's always bands playing in bars. I think it's a pretty city. I'd consider moving there if I could get a music writing gig or work for a record label or something. And best of all, it's warm all year round! If I ever do decide to leave Chicago, Austin will definitely be a possibility to live. Myopenbar keeps flirting with opening an Austin branch. If they did, I think it'd be successful because TX doesn't have any anti-happy hour laws like they have here.

I'm happy to finally get some sleep, although as I write this, I still haven't slept much. I'm really glad I've been traveling so much lately. It's good for my mental state. I just know I'm going to get spoiled and need to travel somewhere every month. Hopefully we can keep the momentum up. Next stop, Europe! I also realize that everything from here on out will be easy in terms of traveling. Driving five hours somewhere? A piece of cake compared to what I just experienced. I'm still peeling from my trip to Costa Rica. I've never seen so much skin peel in such random places. I just finished the newsletter and have to participate in Trivia night for our Saucony game. My computer is seriously malfunctioning and I don't know how to fix it. This makes me very mad. Why can't it just work? I can't afford a new one. Anyway, it's going to take me a couple of days to get caught up with everything.

I apologize for the length of this post. I had a lot to say!